Thoughts, marinations and reflections from Geoff Smith, a High School Principal

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Last Monday, students didn’t come to school, but teachers did! What were we doing at school on Monday? What happens on those “Professional Development” days? What happens at those weekly meetings that teachers have every Wednesday afternoon?

The answer is alot of learning, planning, reflecting, dialogue and professional growth. Check out the link below (in blue) to a short collection of images:

We are a learning organization. On days like Monday or on weekly Wednesday afternoons, faculty spend time preparing classes, lessons, unit plans, assessments, and engaging activities.

LCS faculty are professionals, interested in their own personal learning and professional growth and, most importantly, improving the experience for students. This is the mission we, as faculty, are on. We strive to ensure that students have high quality learning experiences at LCS. I salute the LCS faculty for their commitment and effort. Faculty are working hard on behalf of students and families.

In a recent professional development morning with faculty, we watched a presentation given by Mr Lance King (www.taolearning.org) Mr King talked at length about developing students as self-regulated learners. His focus upon students as self-directed lifelong learners touched on many areas. One in particular struck a chord. In order for students to become confident in their abilities moving forward, it’s helpful to have strong role models that they can relate to. It’s great to hold up people like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa as role models but these exceptional people are, just that, exceptional. They are not particularly accessible to our students. Mr King talked about the valuable role alumni could have as role models for current students. Identifying alumni as role models and celebrating the successes of alumni could be valuable in helping current students understand options, develop confidence, and instill a sense of self-efficacy moving forward.

I was recently in London recruiting new teachers. While in London I had the

an impressive collection of LCS alumni in London, Jan 2013

pleasure of attending the first international LCS alumni reunion, organized by Khushboo Moolchandani (class of 2005) and Stan Osei-Bonsu (Class of 2005) Here is a list of some of the impressive young alumni who attended.

Fritz Riha – class of 2005, spent a couple of years at Lincoln, currently works at Barclays as a Digital Designer in their Customer Experience team)Guendalina Gianfranchi- class of 2005, left LCS in grade 6, currently studying in the UK for her masters.

Nathalie Wilson- class of 2005, left LCS in grade 6 as well, studied and works in the UK as an Online Marketer

When I was a high school kid…..(hang in there, I won’t bore you with my HS history!) But, when I was a high school student I was pretty much focused upon sports and (in my last 18 months some drama). As well I was pretty responsible

Is your passion sports?

with the academic game. I thought I was well balanced because I did a couple of sports and I did a couple of plays in high school. Later in life, as a 21 year old, I learned to play the guitar, something I always wanted to do. As a 40 year old I started singing in an acapella vocal group. In my 40’s I finally began satisfying a long-standing interest in service projects. I didn’t have the opportunity as a teenager, during formative years, to fully explore and develop my interests in music and service. It wasn’t part of my school experience. I don’t know how a CAS requrirement would have impacted me. I’m not sure. I know it would have forced me to consider ideas and activities that I never came close to exploring as a high school student. As a parent, I appreciated the CAS requirement for my kids given that it required various experiences. For some students CAS experiences have great potential to truly shape values, ideas, and lives.CAS is part of being an IB student. It is a requirement and a pillar of the program. Why is it required? What is the goal of the CAS requirement? Why do educators believe CAS is vital in the educational experience of students?

Is your passion organizing service activities?

Being an educated and knowledgeable person is much more than earning grades and “doing school”. The CAS requirement removes you from the structured expectations of the regular school day. It places students in the world of different experiences in which students must plan, act upon, observe, and reflect on their involvement in those experiences.

CAS is often associated with service projects. Service is an essential component, as is Action and Creativity. You must explore opportunities and learn from experiences with sports, creative endeavors, or service activities. Finding your interests and passions in life is part of growing and maturing.

Students are often:

Too caught up in accomplishments – becoming a human “doing” as opposed to a human “being”.

Too caught up in academic demands and the grind of regular school work.

Too caught up in social networks and issues and the challenges of being a teenager.

CAS activities allow you to step away from the normal academic challenges and

Is your passion art or drama?

learn through other experiences.

A foundation of the IB program is nurturing the growth of the Learner Profile in students. To support this nurturing, CAS provides opportunities. Undertaking challenges, planning activities, exercising perseverance and commitment, reflecting upon actions, understanding strengths, are all related to the Learner Profile traits of inquirers, risk takers, communicators, caring, balanced and principled individuals. Sincere involvement in CAS develops and strengthens the IB Learner Profile trait in each individual.

CAS is a pllar of the IB experience. It is a requirement. But, more than a requirement, it supports the important development of a well-rounded individual. Completing the requirement of CAS,which involves serious participation and sincere reflection, will have significant benefits to individuals as they forge their pathways in life.

I asked a student recently to share some ideas with me about topics that might be of interest for students that I could either address or share on this blog. The student sent me a couple of links to movie trailers focused upon adolescent audiences.

As it turns out, on my recent trip to London I watched the first movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, on the plane. I thought it was really well done. It is definitely targeted at high school audiences and deals with the social challenges and decisions facing teenagers.

I’ve been thinking about this lately. Cheating has been in the news. Recently the most famous cheat of all was finally exposed and admitted his cheating. Lance Armstrong – 7 time winner of the most prestigious bike race in the world , Le Tour de France – admitted cheating every year. He did illegal things to gain an advantage and broke the rules. His career is a disaster. He was motivated by his need to win at all costs and while knowing he could cheat and still win. But he is exposed and his career is a disaster.

Why do people cheat when they know it is wrong? This is a really difficult question to answer. There are no easy answers. People make choices and find ways to justify their actions even when they know they are doing things that are wrong.

Cheating in schools is a significant problem. Why do students cheat in school? It could be that:

They just don’t know the work/material and copying or plagiarizing is the easiest way out

They haven’t spent time on the work and are unprepared

They give their work to someone else to be a good friend

They want to gain an advantage over others

They don’t think their behavior is a big deal and feel it is okay to cheat, after all there are many examples of successful cheaters in the world. Continue reading →

The LCS community is in the midst of a discussion about school uniforms. Parents, Teachers, and Students are engaging with the debate as to whether we should adopt a uniform for our students. It is a debate with some passionate representation for both sides of the discussion.

What are the pros and cons? What do you really think?

Here’s my take on the possible pros and cons.

Pros. A school uniform could:

Support a more focused academic environment

Provide an environment that “fits in” to a greater degree with the local Ghanaian context because wearing a uniform to school is normal in Ghana.

Eliminate some dress code violation decisions.

Limit the issues that students have in choosing and buying a range of clothing choices. This could eliminate some possible social issues around choice of dress.

Support the building of a school identity, associated with a new logo and a new uniform

Support parents in their discussions about the choice of clothing

Cons. A school uniform could:

Conflict with the IB philosophy of developing independent, critical, and responsible thinkers who make appropriate decisions.

Limit individuality and the opportunity to be an individual based upon your clothes.

Result in an atmosphere that is too “uniform”.

Eliminate an attractive element of LCS (in the eyes of some, not having a uniform is an attractive aspect of LCS).

There are no guarantees that these pro or con arguments would be completely true. The only guarantee is that in a large community, diverse opinions exist. Therefore, the range of arguments will be true for some people.

Here are a few images of potential uniforms from other international schools. This gives you some idea of the suggestions that have been made.

(Reminder – this was posted in January, 2013) Thus far only Grade 11 and 10 students have had the chance to submit a vote on the topic of uniforms. In the coming weeks, other grade levels in the secondary school will have a chance to express their opinion. While in both grade levels a majority of students are not interested in a uniform, it is important to note that there are many students who do support a uniform. It’s essential to acknowledge and respect the views of both sides with this discussion.

I invite you to leave a comment on this blog with respect to the uniform discussion.

One of the best parts of working in (or attending a) school is the opportunity for renewal. New school years, new calendar years (2013), new reporting quarters, new units of study, new events and new opportunities.

As a student you can explore and re-invent yourself at different times. That is part of being a teenager. As an adult, you can constantly renew your professional learning, make resolutions to be fitter, resolve to read more books and take time for yourself or your family, be more organized, and so on.

New Years resolutions are just one opportunity to consider goals and plans for the coming months.

This post is dedicated to students who have been cyber bullied. My goal is to offer some support, resources, and learning for students. I have embedded several videos and a web site links for students to view. My goal is to support the building of community where every individual feels safe and valued.

With respect to cyber bullying……….

About one-third of online teens (ages 12-17) have been cyberbullied. Girls are more likely to be targeted.

This post is focused upon the portrayal of female teenagers in the media. There are two resources on this site. Being aware of the impact of the media and effects the media has on how girls self-perceptions is really important.

In browsing sites the other day my wife found this video and shared it with me, so I would share this with secondary school students. Have a look at the documents and videos on this post and consider the important messages they hold. How does the media impact young women?

A Girl’s Guide To Battling The Harmful Effects Of Mass Media from MoveOn.org

It is a site with excellent resources for teenage girls around the topic of the media. It is worth taking a look at and browsing as deeply as you wish to. There are many voices of teenage girls on the site.

In addition, there is a site dedicated to the film Miss Representation. We will be showing this movie at LCS in the future. It is a powerful movie. If you wish to know more about this film and explore the topic, google Miss Representation.

This was the image of a teacher’s desk during a recent mid-semester exam. Our students were not able to hold onto the phones because some students will use them to gain an advantage over other students. In a straightforward semester exam, phones offer multiple methods for cheating (creative short cuts!!)

When will these phones be used as learning tools, not as “cheating” devices during exams for students? When will they be learning tools on a regular basis in the classroom? How are we going to deal with the ubiquitous nature of technology in schools? The proliferation of smart phones, tablets, ipads and other wireless devices in schools coupled with growing bandwidth and wireless access, presents unknown potential for teaching and learning.

How will these tools support the end goals of a K-12 education? How will these tools support the development of the skills needed for being a self-regulated learner, a self-reliant learner, and a lifelong learner?

Perhaps they impact learning more than we consider at present. Consider the amount of communication the tools already support amongst students. Perhaps, in all that texting and image/document sharing that is taking place all the time – literally 24/7 (with a few hours in the middle of the night to catch some sleep) there are some educational and/or school related exchanges of Continue reading →